WHEREAS, the White House has made it clear that it considers evolution
to be the cornerstone of modern biology and rejects ID as a scientific
theory, or even a scientific topic, and;

WHEREAS, the focus question approved yesterday for the hearings is
not, as alleged, a part of the NCLB legislation, having been dropped
from
the actual bill during the conference committee, and;

WHEREAS, the changes proposed in the minority report will have the
effect of requiring our universities to train future teachers using an
inappropriate
definition of science or face loss of accreditation of their science
teacher preparation programs, and;

WHEREAS, scientific merit is not established through public discourse
and debate, but rather, internally, through a consensus of those with
the specialized background necessary to make such judgment, and;

WHEREAS, all members of the Science Hearing Committee either ran for
office on anti-evolution platforms, or previously introduced creationist
standards in lieu of good science, thus destroying any façade
of impartiality and;

WHEREAS, these are the individuals who will act as both the judge and
jury of the scientific credibility of evolution during the hearings,
despite lacking the collective credentials to serve as the arbiters of
what constitutes good science, and;

WHEREAS, it would not be fair to science to be found wanting by a self-admitted
scientifically challenged jury with an anti-evolution bias,

NOW THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED, that KCFS calls upon the Board of Education to dissolve
the unneeded and ill-conceived Science Hearing Committee, or, if that
fails to occur;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that KCFS calls on the entire science and science
education community of Kansas to refuse to participate in the hearing
proceedings. Science has its own validity and has made its position on
these matters perfectly clear and unambiguous. ID and other forms of
creationism aren’t science. The specific proposals in the minority
report have been rejected by the writing committee and by the science
community at large. The science community should not put itself in the
position of participating in a rigged hearing where non-scientists will
appear to sit in judgment and find science lacking. Science should not
give the anti-evolution members of the board the veneer of respectability
when they take their predictable action. Let the board take responsibility
for its actions without dignifying those actions with the appearance
of academic rigor.